Tennis legend Serena Williams has added one other skilled sports activities franchise to her rising funding portfolio. She has joined the possession group of the Toronto Tempo, the WNBA’s latest growth group.
The Tempo, primarily owned by Kilmer Sports activities Ventures below Larry Tanenbaum’s chairmanship, will develop into the fifteenth group within the Ladies’s Nationwide Basketball Affiliation when it begins play in 2026. The group will probably be led by president Teresa Resch, who will oversee basketball and enterprise operations because the franchise prepares for its inaugural season.
Williams, the 23-time Grand Slam champion, will actively take part within the group’s visible id growth, contributing to future jersey designs and serving to create distinctive merchandise collaborations. Her involvement extends the tennis icon’s rising affect in skilled sports activities possession.
This funding provides to Williams’ already spectacular portfolio of sports activities franchises. She holds possession stakes within the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, the Nationwide Ladies’s Soccer League’s Angel Metropolis FC, and the Los Angeles Golf Membership.
The Tempo will choose their first gamers by means of an growth draft scheduled to happen after the conclusion of the 2025 WNBA season. This course of will enable the brand new franchise to construct its preliminary roster by choosing unprotected gamers from current WNBA groups.
When play begins in 2026, the Tempo will make their house on the Coca-Cola Coliseum in downtown Toronto. The group plans to increase its Canadian footprint by internet hosting regular-season video games in Montreal and Vancouver, making the Tempo a nationwide franchise as the primary WNBA group based mostly outdoors the USA.
The addition of Toronto continues the WNBA’s strategic growth, which has seen growing viewership, attendance, and funding in recent times. League commissioner Cathy Engelbert has prioritized progress with the Tempo following the profitable launch of different latest growth franchises.